This Little Light of Mine
by Felicity Wood
Summary: The story of the girl Mush met last night, the mayor's daughter, and the girl who walked past the Newsies...
1. Happy Birthday

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Newsies or the Mayor who was the real Mayor during the strike although I did create his character but all the other characters are completely from my imagination..  
  
I woke to the sound I usually woke up to every morning: the sound of the newsboy who stands on the corner of my street. He was shouting on about my best friend's father, Robert A. Van Wyck, the mayor. I chose to ignore the continuous news about scandal, I knew it wasn't true, Gabriella would have told me.  
  
It was going to be a long boring day and I knew it. The sound of rustling next to my bed startled me and I rolled over to see my new pet squirrel. I grinned to myself. Maybe the day wouldn't be so bad after all. It was my fifteenth birthday, but the only people who were scheduled to stop by all morning were all older and would sit discussing financial things with my grandmother and ignore me after they said their dutiful happy birthday.  
  
My two best friends Beatrice or Trixie, and Gabriella were coming later. Yesterday they had given me their presents, which were of a very interesting sort, one being the squirrel. I stretched lazily and listened to the newsboys headlines grow more and more fanciful: something about the trolley strike that had been going on for a few weeks now. I didn't really know much about it, I wasn't allowed to read the news. I just gazed up at the ceiling dreamily trying to phase out the day; it didn't work. My maid walked briskly into my room and slammed the window shut. I sighed as I sat up to look at her.  
  
"Why do you insist on leaving that open?" she asked me, shaking her head. "You don't need to hear those things, they are mostly lies anyway."  
  
"He's my morning wake up call." I said grinning. "Without him there, I'd never wake up."  
  
She just shook her head as she pulled a dress out of my wardrobe. It was my favorite dress but it didn't please me to wear it today. I slid out of bed and stood up; she hurried around helping me get dressed. Just as she was finished doing my hair I heard the doorbell ring. I began to fidget nervously. "If you quit fidgeting you'll get down there sooner." The maid suggested.  
  
I grinned mischievously at her in the mirror and began to rock in my chair. She just sighed and jabbed me lightly with a hair pin. "And you're fifteen now too. I almost think I expected you to grow up a little." She added good naturedly.  
  
After awhile I finally went downstairs to find that the person sitting in the parlor talking to my grandmother was a complete stranger. She seemed to remember me from something though and she kept asking me how my sister was. I shrugged  
  
"She is in the negation of being and is currently not of the same essence of us." I smiled brightly at her.  
  
"Oh." She said frowning at me slightly. "That's just wonderful." I smiled again, more tight lipped this time. Why did my grandmother always invite over such half-witted people. I didn't have a sister, and all I'd said was that she didn't exist, but she didn't even manage to catch that. My grandmother gave me a look that clearly told me to be nice. I sighed; what a long day this would be.  
  
Finally after a lot of sitting, early in the afternoon, my grandmother left the room so I attempted to make the day interesting, but of course none of the guests had enjoyed my display of my squirrel. I just brought it downstairs to show it to them, and then I accidentally dropped the cage, and the door just happened to be unlocked so it swung open. The squirrel, scared by all those people, all of them strangers went whizzing madly around the room. A few people trying to stop it even got bitten. Trixie arrived in the midst and watched the chaos gleefully. She winked at me and then pretended to faint to add to the pandemonium. Later the guests were too polite to mention the ruckus to my grandmother and they courteously covered their bite marks.  
  
When Gabbie finally came over later the three of us were excused to go to my room.  
  
"It was hilarious." Trixie informed her the second we got there. "They were running around everywhere."  
  
I nodded gleefully. "And then Trixie," I paused as I continued laughing, "And then Trixie, she pretended to faint."  
  
"I think we should act it out for you." Trix said enthusiastically. "Here, Collie you can be all the guests and I'll be the squirrel." Trixie directed. "Oh, and Gabbie you're going to have to pretend to be Colleen. So you're walking along and you drop the cage." She continued. I shrieked loudly, swooning slightly as Trixie began to dash around the room hissing and spitting. "Oh we'll need to contain that vermin." I imitated on of my father's old friends. I began to chase Trixie around the room. Gabbie, following her part of me well was on the floor laughing her heart out. I finally caught Trixie's arm and she bit me as the squirrel had done when its tail had been pulled. I could no longer contain myself and Trixie and I collapsed on the floor with Gabriella giggling. We eventually settled down and then sat quietly.  
  
"Mayor Bribed by Prostitute." The Newsboy shouted. Gabbie blushed as I ran over to the window to shut it.  
  
"You know its all lies." Trixie said soothingly, as she put her arm around Gabbie. "Everyone else knows its all lies too." Every trace of the lighthearted mood of earlier had completely vanished from her visage.  
  
"I hate being the mayor's daughter." Gabbie told us for not the first time. "I hate it so much." I sat down again next to them and we sat in silence. "I'm sorry Colleen." She finally said. "I don't mean to spoil your day."  
  
"Oh there's no danger of that happening." I said wryly. "My day was spoiled the moment the first guest arrived this morning." We lapsed into silence once again after my proclamation, but as it had been before it was a comfortable silence. It was the silence that we shared together that got us through each day. The silent knowledge that we would never try to change each other even as the rest of the world tore at us in every direction. The silent knowledge that we were not alone. And around us the world went on; I could still hear the guests talking faintly, the squirrel was eating noisily in a corner, and below us in the streets I could hear the newsboy yelling out the headline. 


	2. Irving Hall

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Newsies or the Mayor who was the real Mayor during the strike although I did create his character but all the other characters are completely from my imagination..  
  
Later as I stepped out of the carriage with the help of the footman at the front of Irving Hall, the newsboy and his headlines were the farthest thing from my mind. I had been looking forward to this outing most of all the entire day, but now that we were there, I only wanted to go home and sleep.  
  
Because some of the guests had been slightly bitter with us they had detained us with extensive farewells, and we were extremely late. We were seated in the balcony near the side where we didn't have a very good view of the stage but there were barely any people seated near us and we attracted less attention that way. The only people near us were a group of very rowdy boys that were whistling and clapping.  
  
I gasped as I recognized one of them as the boy who sold papers on my corner. Trixie turned and looked at me quizzically and I turned it into a yawn. She gave me a sly look and I sighed; she knew me too well. She then smiled at the boys and I could immediately tell what her look meant as well. Before the night would be over a lot was going to happen if it was left up to her. Gabriella just ignored them disdainfully and I could also tell that it was fake. It was the act she always had when she was in a public place. I knew that later she'd probably be telling us that she fancied one of them or that she thought they were hilarious when no one but Trixie and I were near. Her father was always worried about the kind of image she would project and we were always not doing things for her sake because of this. The fact that Trixie's father was the chief of police had the opposite effect on her turning her into a rebel, the neglected orphan of me landing somewhere between them.  
  
As we sat down on the red cushioned seats I scanned over the boys again. Some of them were quite good looking, especially the one from my corner. He had very dark curly brown hair which was covered by his grey hat and he was very tan, most likely because of the long hours he spent outside everyday.  
  
I remember when I was little I would wave and smile at him everyday as I'd walk by on my way to school or wherever it was I was going to, and once I'd even asked him if he could play with me and I had been really upset when he'd said that he had to work. I'd gone inside and complained to my father about it as he was the first one who I'd seen. He hadn't been sympathetic though but angry.  
  
"Why were you talking to that dirty boy on the street in the first place?" he'd yelled. "You're better than he is." Because of the false truth of that he'd spoken and that my friend's fathers had spoken, we almost believed that we were better than the poor children on the street were. In reality I had figured out later, they were much better people than we were.  
  
So after my father's lecture I'd only say hello or wave to him and went on my way, not yet rebellious. That even stopped the day after my parents died. There is nothing like the feeling of hearing a stranger on the street yell out "Esteemed Business Man and Wife Killed in Accident; Daughter Sole Survivor and Heiress."  
  
I was walking past him as usual on my way to school; my grandmother had thought it would be good for me, when I heard him say the headline. I hurried on with my head down. As I neared him he started to say it again and stopped in the middle of it. I looked up and he stared back at me with realization, glancing also at my picture with my parents on the front page.  
  
"I-" he started to say but I was gone. I had dropped my books and ran crying for my parents who had turned into another headline soon to be forgotten by the boy who my father had thought we were better than.  
  
Later that afternoon when we'd left for the funeral all of my schoolbooks were piled neatly on the step. Despite that nice gesture I'd never once walked past him on the corner again but carefully avoided him, although I could almost always see or hear him through my open window.  
  
That had been the last day I'd cried ever and the last day I'd really cared about much of anything. I pretended on the outside that I cared about society and such but I didn't care what was unseemly or not ladylike and my grandmother almost never paid attention to me. That one newsboy thought was still connected to my past in my mind. Just hearing him as I woke up every morning almost always sent me back into my old state of mind, it tore open some vulnerable place in me, that at any other time I didn't even know I had, just for a few moments, seconds even, and then I would get past it.  
  
He looked so different now than he did on the street; he was slightly dressed up and the happy expression on his face was rarely seen on the corner. He looked up at me, feeling my gaze, and I looked away quickly. After a few minutes I looked back, and he was one again absorbed in the show.  
  
The show was decent with singing and dancing and several musicians, but by the time the intermission came we were restless. Gabriella and I went to the powder room leaving Trixie to hold our seats. When we came back one of the boys was sitting next to her talking avidly as she nodded. He was wearing an eye patch and was also quite good looking. He stood up clumsily when we came over to the seats, surprising me with his politeness. I knew I should have suspected some such thing would happen, Trix had been in a strange mood ever since the squirrel 'incident' and seemed to be just itching for trouble.  
  
"Greetings Miss'" the boy said to Gabriella and I. "We was just wondering if youse would want to come sit over by us since youse seem to be kinda lonely over here." Yhea, I'm sure the three of us looked real lonely. I looked at Trixie who was nodding invigoratingly at us. She rolled her sparkling grey eyes dreamily a little at the boy who was still looking at us instead of her, then she winked mischievously. I couldn't help but laugh. Gabriella and I both nodded consenting.  
  
"Great!" The newsboy said smiling. Trixie stood up and the four of us made our way over to where the other newsboys were sitting. Eye patch boy sat down next to Gabbie and Trix immediately sat on either side of him and to next to tow other boys. I glumly looked around for another spot.  
  
"You can sit here." The newsboy from my corner said.  
  
"Hiya." He said smiling brightly after I sat down. I nodded tentatively at his enthusiasm. He kind of tipped his hat at me. "My name's Mush."  
  
I was immediately put at ease and I smiled back graciously. "I'm Colleen." I replied. I paused briefly afraid of offending him with my question. But I was just to curious so I had to continue. "Mush is just a. just a nickname right?" I asked. "I mean your parents wouldn't actually name you that right?"  
  
"Of course." He said laughing at my confused face. "But I don't actually remember what my real name is." He answered.  
  
"Oh." I said joining in on his laughter, although I must admit, I was rather confused.  
  
"We all have nicknames." He continued. "They come so easily. For example: Your name is Colleen, so I bet your friends call you Collie right?"  
  
I nodded and he continued, "So Collie is a kind of dog, so therefore your nickname could be Dog."  
  
"It could be." I sniffed coldly as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Did he really just say that?!? Maybe my father was right after all.  
  
"Oh." He exclaimed in realization of what he'd said. "I didn't mean it that way. I'm always messing up my words like that," he stated calmly. "Do you come here often?" He tried again.  
  
I stared at him before answering, not believing that he would just brush that off so quickly, he should be at least somewhat ashamed of calling me a dog shouldn't he?  
  
"Not really." I said, before I could stop myself, completely mortified myself with my rude cryptic answer. "I enjoy it more every time I come." I finally added after a long uncomfortable pause.  
  
"I enjoy it too. I think they put on quite a good show."  
  
"I agree." I said once again returning his bright smile. We sat in silence watching both in silent agreement of the quality of the show. 


	3. Success?

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Newsies or the Mayor who was the real Mayor during the strike although I did create his character somewhat... but all the other characters are completely from my imagination...

A/N: Okay, and we are now switching into Mush's point of view, I do that periodically, just to warn you, switch the point of view. Except when it's not Colleen it will be in third person, and when it is Colleen it will be in first person. And I always try and state the person's name within the first sentence like I do right there whenever I do that... so well... just deal with it... it's a bad habit of mine, I know. If you don't like it, read my other fanfic, I haven't started changing point of view in that story yet, and I actually don't plan on it, but if it does, I really can't help it all that much... Oh yhea, and later it switches to Trix and Gabbies for a really short time...

You look kinda familiar." Mush started when the next act left the stage and the audience's applause died down. "Have you ever been in the papes before?" he asked.

Everything about her stiffened uncomfortably, as she answered him. "Maybe once or twice." She replied and so he looked toward the stage once again. What was so wrong about asking if she had been in the papes? She probably hadn't been recently anyway. He would surely remember her if she had been, she was so beautiful. He had liked her the minute he saw her, but if he kept messing up as he had been he knew he would have to just give up.

Mush mentally berated himself for saying another stupid thing. He tried smiling at her again which had seemed to get him pretty far before then, but his smile was weak, and it ended up not being directed at her. He finally just let his mind drift back to the show.

When Medda came on the rest of the boys cheered, but Mush didn't. He'd found recently that he didn't care about her at all. And now Colleen was so much prettier than Medda was, and come to think of it Medda was kind of old. He'd never really actually talked to Medda much anyways she always paid more attention to Racetrack, or Blink or Jack.

"Isn't she kind of old?" Colleen whispered to him then, taking Mush completely by surprise, especially by how he'd just been thinking that himself.

"Yes, she is." He agreed. "It's kind of funny how the other guys like her so much considering." He whispered back. She looked over at some of the other guys whose eyes were shining at her and she giggled, then settled back to watch the show.

'Geez.' Mush thought to himself. 'Girls are so confusing.' Here he'd just thought that he'd lost any chance with her that he had when he'd asked about the papes and now she was talking to him and giggling. He decided to take another chance and turned to whisper to her how they had celebrated her 35th birthday party with her about two months ago, and yet it had never occurred to any of the boys how that this made her over twice their age. She laughed again. After Medda went off stage and there was another slight break before the next performer came on he stopped one of the concessions people. "Would you like some candy?" He asked her.

She nodded and got ready to take out her pocket book. "No I'll pay for it." He assured her.

"Oh, but—"She began to protest.

"No." He said firmly pushing her money away and handing the man his. Then he handed her the striped bag. She smiled at him blushing just slightly "Thank you." She said. She put a candy in her mouth and then offered him one. He took one and then the next person came on. The next time she reached out to take a piece of candy he noticed a set of marks on her arm. He didn't say anything but the next time she reached he couldn't help himself. "What are those marks on your arm?" he asked her. He'd said it just loud enough that he'd gotten the attention of some of the Newsies around them. Colleen and the two girls began to laugh. "Trixie bit me." Was all Colleen would say but one of the other girls added, "She was pretending to be a rabid squirrel." The other girl next to Blink who was apparently Trixie laughed nodding and Blink looked at her strangely and moved over in his chair closer to the other girl.

Later that evening as Mush left the hall with the rest of the guys he lagged behind them just slightly, thinking about the evening. He'd had fun for the most part but he still didn't understand what had made her so uncomfortable. She had been very nice, and she'd even laughed at some of his comments. He laughed as he thought about how much better things had gone for him then they had for Dutchy and Jake who had been trying to talk to Colleen's two friends. With that thought he ran up to join the other guys in their banter.

Trixie was extremely exasperated. All evening she'd been trying to catch the one eyed kid's eye but the guy with the funny nose kept getting in her way. Jake she thought he'd said his name was. She had barely listened to a word that he'd said because basically every time he'd opened his mouth she would watch in strange fascination at the way his nose moved when he spoke. The kid with they eye patch on the other hand had a very good-looking nose. He'd spent almost the whole time looking over at Gabriella but didn't seem to be able to get up the nerve to talk to her. The one thing he'd said to Trixie was "Is she really the mayor's daughter?" She had happily said yes but then she'd noticed how his face had lit up when she's said that. "I'm the chief of police's daughter she commented." But he hadn't heard her. And then of course there was the squirrel business. All of the other Newsies had thought it was hilarious except the one eyed boy. He had just looked disturbed and kept refusing to meet her eyes. She sighed and looked at the very dirty clothes of they one eyed boy. Her eyes finally stopped on one his ankles where she noticed that there was a very ominous thread sticking out of each leg. She dropped her handkerchief and noted the fact that the one eyed boy didn't even notice before she bent down as if to pick it up and gave one of the strings a tug. She watched in fascination as the leg slowly began to unravel, and she pulled harder.

On the way to Gabriella's house from the theatre Gabbie looked out the window of the carriage and spotted all of the newsies walking away from the hall. She pointed silently and they all stared out the window after them.

"What an interesting evening." Trixie commented laughing to herself.

"Such a long day." Colleen replied sighing.

"It is good that we get to know the ways of the lessors sometimes." Gabbie added offhandedly, making a gesture at the driver whom was listening to every word that was said. The other two girls nodded, they understood that no more should be spoken about it in front of the driver. When they finally made it to Gabbie's room then they began to converse openly. Gabbie settled herself between Trixie and Colleen. "Happy Birthday Collie." She said smiling. The three of them all sat silently for awhile remembering the day.

"I guess it actually did turn out to be fun." Colleen said finally breaking the peaceful silence.

"Why wouldn't it have been?" Gabbie inquired curiously.

"Well I don't know." Colleen replied bitterly. "You saw all of those people who were over; I was just thrilled by them you know? I even heard a whisper of marriage amongst them before I let the squirrel out. Hopefully that chased all of their thoughts of marrying me away. I'm much too young to marry; everyone knows that, including my grandmother. I heard her telling someone the other day that she wouldn't know what would happen to me when she died and that was why she was trying to marry me off as quick as possible." She sighed forlornly.

"We may think she doesn't know about the mischievous streak that we all have, but she does. And she thinks the best and only cure for it is marriage." That silenced Gabbie and Trixie right away. Marriage? It was a thing that they had thought about enough times but not for a long ways off. The thought at Colleen being married was horrifying, especially considering the fact that it would most likely be to someone older and miserly.

Gabbie shuddered at the thought of it. She hoped to marry someone around her age, but not for awhile yet. That evening the two boys she'd been sitting next to had definitely put her off that idea any time soon. The one named Dutchy had been extremely annoying as he kept trying to show off his spelling abilities, and the other one, the one with the eye patch had spent the whole evening opening his mouth as if he was about to say something and then closing it as if he had thought better of it, this thoroughly reminded her of a fish. Trixie on the other had did not agree with Gabbie on that whatsoever.

"He was adorable." She insisted. "And he ignored me the whole time because he was in love with the fact that you're the mayor's daughter."

Gabbie sighed. "I thought he looked like a fish." She said.

Colleen laughed. "A one eyed fish?"

"A blond one eyed fish," Gabbie said. Even Trixie laughed.

"He did look kind of funny." She admitted. "I guess the only one of us who had any success was Colleen."

"Tell us about him, Collie." Gabbie added nodding.

Colleen giggled slightly to herself. "Well." she started. "I have seen him before..."


	4. My World

A/N: Wow… it's really been ten months since I updated. I'm sorry? Yhea I know that just doesn't cut it. You guys were all awesome reviewers. Made me happy. But in all honesty, I wrote most of this story a really long time ago… back in my freshman year or so and now I just finished being a Junior and I feel really off base with it. So I don't particularly like it right now, but until I find some drastic way to change it I guess I'm going to keep on posting it.

* * *

The next afternoon I woke lazily to the sound of Mush yelling the headlines as usual. "Baby Born with Multiple Heads." He yelled loudly. I turned over, surprised that his yelping hadn't woken me sooner. 

I yawned lazily and listened for more. I got all my news, however much exaggerated from Mush's headlines so I wanted to hear more. "Fire on Ellis Island" He continued.

I raised my eyebrow. Now certainly if that had been true I would have heard about that by now. I rolled out of bed landing on the floor on my face dragging all of the sheets with me. I sighed, breathing in their clean scent.

"Teddy Roosevelt Commits bloody suicide!" He yelled. Now that most certainly got me up. There was no way that there could be any truth in that whatsoever. I ran to the window and threw it open all the way.

"You've got to be kidding me." I shouted down to him sleepily. He turned around looking startled and slightly unnerved. He looked really tired and hungry and as if he didn't want the conversation that he anticipated was coming, but when he saw me he relaxed.

"I'm sorry miss." He said. "I thought no one was around or I wouldn't have shouted that one. Business is slow today and I was bored so I decided to make the headlines interesting."

"There's a difference between making them interesting and outright slander." I yelled back, laughing slightly.

"Oh I yell out random things lots of times." He replied. He closed his eyes to shield out the sunlight. "Normally no one hears me."

"Oh I always do." I said lowering my voice. "It just wasn't till after last night that I got up the courage to yell out and ask you about them."

"Why's that—"he started and then stopped and squinted at me carefully, shielding his eyes from the sun. "Colleen?" he asked slowly.

"Yhea?" I said smiling.

He grinned brightly at me and I giggled a little to myself. "Why didn't you tell me it was you?" He asked.

"I thought you could see me." I yelled back.

"No I mean last night, I mean well…" he broke off and looked around as if he had just now only noticed that we were yelling to each other in the middle of a quiet upper class street. He looked up at me curiously. I just pointed towards the door and closed the window.

* * *

She had been the last person he had expected to see on the warm July morning. 'You ever been in the papes?' was that the stupidest question he had ever asked in his life? He was quite glad she seemed not to care about all of the stupid things he'd asked the night before, including the bite question, even thought it had turned out amusingly, it was something he should have been polite enough not to ask about, especially now that he knew just how rich she was. 

Of course he'd bragged to all the guys this morning about how he'd met a girl last night any way, even though he hadn't expected anything to come of it, or for him to ever see her again. He'd been so surprised this morning when he'd seen Trixie walk past them this morning. He'd almost called out to her to ask her about Colleen but Skittery had distracted him, and he'd thought all of his chances were gone forever.

He walked up to the front door of the gigantic house. He paused with his hand hovering above the doorbell and just looked up at it, not believing that after standing in front of the house for every single day for nine years he was finally going to be allowed to enter it. He rang the bell and a maid opened the door in a matter of seconds. "Can I uh, can I please see Miss Colleen, please." He stammered out.

The maid smiled back at him warmly, putting him at ease. "Of course you can," She replied opening the door and gesturing in. "She will be down shortly," the maid continued as she ascended the monstrous staircase.

Mush turned and looked around him in awe. He had never in his life seen such as grand a place as this, everywhere he turned there were beautiful paintings and antique vases. He looked down guiltily at his muddy footprints. The maid came back down the stairs and Mush spoke.

"Should I take off my shoes?" He asked worriedly. "I don't want to track in mud."

The maid smiled kindly at him understanding that he wasn't used to this kind of atmosphere. "If you wish too." She replied politely.

Mush didn't know what to say. He didn't think anyone had ever told him that in his life. "Yes." He said and took off his shoes. She took them from him and then disappeared with them.

* * *

The second the doorbell rang I thought my heart stopped beating. Then promptly it started again because, after all, why should it have stopped in the first place? I frantically rushed to get dressed and it took my maid and I record timing. To her protests I made her leave my hair down, insisting that I didn't have time for her to do it. 

I walked slowly down the stairs pondering what to say to him. When I finally came into view he was facing the other direction staring up at the ornate ceiling in awe. I couldn't help but smile. "Hello Mush." I said. He turned abruptly and smiled back at me nervously, taking off his hat.

I went down the last few steps and automatically curtsied and offered him my hand. He took it awkwardly and gave me a slightly puzzled look and I realized that he had no idea why I had offered him my hand. I pushed it a little forward and I could see the understanding dawn on him. He gently kissed my hand and I could barely keep myself from blushing.

Once again we smiled shyly at each other not quite sure what to say. I glanced down and happened to notice that he wasn't wearing any shoes. I couldn't help but laugh. "What on earth happened to your shoes?" I asked him.

"Oh." He said smiling. "I didn't want to track in the mud so I gave them to the maid."

"I think you're the first person coming into this house that has ever done that." I said smiling back at him.

"Was it wrong?" he asked anxiously.

"No, of course not." I reassured him. "It was extremely thoughtful. Most people just don't care if they make more work for the maids and some even enjoy giving them a hard time. I've heard Mary Lou complain about it many times. She must be so pleased." I beamed at him. "Do you want something to eat?" I asked. "You look pretty hungry."

"Yes thank you." He said as I led the way into the kitchen.

"Hello Cook." I said to the cheery woman who was sitting at the table stirring something. "This is my friend Mush."

She smiled back at us brightly. "And you want something to eat do you lad?" she asked in her Scottish accent.

"Yes please." He answered her, taking off his hat to her as well.

She beamed at him. "What would you like? I can make anything."

"Anything?" Mush repeated astounded. He paused thoughtfully. "Can I have some mashed potatoes with gravy?"

The cook laughed. "Certainly you can." She replied. "You two run along and I'll have them ready soon."

I nodded and we departed. "I'll give you a tour of the house." I said, thinking about how he kept looking around him at everything and running into the furniture. He nodded and we ascended the staircase.

"So why didn't you tell me who you were?" He asked when we were half way up the flight.

"I thought you could see me." I replied avoiding the true question.

"No I mean last night, why didn't you tell me that you were the girl who…"

"It doesn't matter." I said quickly cutting him off. "Let's just forget it." I briefly met his brown eyes and then looked away. "C'mon." I said, hurrying up the stairs.

When we got to my door I told him be quiet. "My grandmother's sleeping." I explained. I opened my door and peaked in, looking about for the squirrel that I had let loose in my room. Trixie had miraculously managed to train it so it only did its business in the cage and so I had decided to let it roam free: what a mistake. The squirrel shot out of my room when I opened it and tore down the hall.

"What was that?" Mush asked staring at me wide eyed.

"My pet squirrel." I said cringing slightly at the sound of a crash at the end of the hall. "You have to help me find it." I said as I tore after it.

I chased it into a corner and I was just about to lunge at it when it went back in the other direction. Mush also lunged at it and missed. We both got up and ran after it down the hall as I watched it scamper down the stairs. At the bottom it turned around and went back up again but I had gained too much momentum and when I tried to stop I slammed into Mush and we both began to tumble down the stairs.

He helped me up when we got to the bottom. "Are you okay?" he asked concerned. I nodded and ran back up the stairs with him close behind me. It turned out it had gone back in my room to go to it's cage. I closed the door behind us and collapsed on the floor laughing. Mush did the same. "I'm not even going to bother asking why you have a squirrel loose in your room." He said finally. He got up and began to look around.

"It was a present from Trixie." I said. "She gave it to me just two days ago for my birthday and with so many adults over and then going to the show for my birthday I haven't had time to try training it to stay here." I added, still breathless.

"Your birthday was yesterday?" he said. "You should have told us, we Newsies would have done something special for you." He went back to looking around. "This Trixie of yours seems to be a real character." He said, running his fingers over all of my books. "She seems like the kind of girl Blink would like."

"Which one was that?" I asked him curiously, hoping maybe I could get Trixie satisfied with him rather than Fish boy.

"Oh the one between your two friends, the one with the eye patch." He replied. Of course.

I sighed. "He seemed too preoccupied with the fact that my other friend Gabbie was the mayor's daughter to notice her." I said.

"Yhea, he's like that." Mush agreed. "But he'll get over it. He's my best bud."

I nodded glad that I hadn't mentioned anything about how we were calling him Fish.

"Have you really read all of these books?" Mush finally asked. I nodded. "I can't read all that well." He continued. "Just enough to get the gist of an article so I can yell out the headlines. My mum tried to send me to school. But it didn't work; I'd have to stay home to take care of things when my pop got drunk. That's why I ran away."

I stared at him in shock suddenly realizing how stupid I was showing off my house to him. Why he even bothered talking to a rich brat like me who knows? Yet what shocked me even more was the fact that he could write off his family in two sentences, but before I could say anything he was off looking at something else in the room.

He stopped in front of the lone painting on the wall, a watercolor of a sunset. "That's really pretty." He said.

"I thought so too." I answered. "That's why I painted it."

"Wow, you painted that?" He said. I nodded. He looked around some more.

When his curiosity had finally been satisfied we moved on to another room. Eventually the smell of mashed potatoes drifted up to us and we went back downstairs. When we entered the kitchen there was a huge bowl of mashed potatoes sitting there and we sat silently as he ate them with a little help from me.

When he was done he got up and looked out the window at the darkening sky. "I should be going." He said regretfully. I walked with him to the door where his shoes stood brightly polished. "I guess I'll see you around." He said sullenly as he put them on. He looked up suddenly, biting his lip nervously. "That is unless…well." He paused and I could almost my heart beating louder. "That is unless you wouldn't mind if I came to see you again." He paused again. "Tomorrow even."

I nodded smiling again. "I would be delighted." I replied. "And you're welcome to come around anytime." I added.

He smiled back just as happy as I was. "Okay then." He said. "Tomorrow it is." And with that he tipped his hat at me and then walked down the steps and slowly walked off into the distance whistling the national anthem, just slightly off-key.


	5. His world

A/N: Well Casey, thank you for reviewing… you made my day, and since I just happened to type this up yesterday because I felt really bad for not updating and I had nothing better to do… you get another update just because you reviewed!

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The next morning I didn't wake up to Mush's voice. It was the first time in ages that I hadn't and so I pushed out the window worriedly looking for him. Thankfully I saw him walking down the street towards my house. He waved at me and walked a little bit faster. When he got just below my window he called up to me. "Say, do you want to go somewhere with me?" he asked. "I gotta make a trip." 

"Sure." I replied. "What should I wear?"

He pondered the question for a second. "Do you think you could find something ordinary?" he asked. "You know, that looks kinda poor?"

I nodded and left the window. It took me awhile to track down something, but I finally found that Mary Lou had her sister's dress that needed mending that she would let me wear. I was dressed in seconds and I borrowed a pair of Mary Lou's shoes. The skirt was made of a moderately light cloth, but it was still heavier than any of my summer dresses, all of my summer dresses were also much prettier but that I could deal with.

When I stepped outside Mush grinned at me. "Perfect." He said.

"I'm not wearing a hat." I said nervously in response.

"Oh that doesn't matter." He said grabbing my hand. "You could prolly use a little sun anyway." With that he pulled me off down the street, and in a few minutes I was lost, and it was hard for me to believe that this part of the city that I had never been through actually existed so close to where I resided. Many of the people waved to Mush and smiled at me, I just nervously smiled back.

"Where are we going?" I finally asked him.

"We're going down the Battery to talk to some of the Newsies there."

"Oh." I paused. "Why?"

"Well see the thing is," he started. " Is that they raised the price of the newspapers today and so we decided that as the newsboys of New York that they have to respect our rights and lower the price back down so we're going on strike." He looked so proud of how they were taking matters into their own hands that I couldn't bare to tell him that the newspaper people wasn't infringing on their rights in any way whatsoever. "So." He continued. "We are going as messengers to tell the leader of the Battery Newsies to ask him to join us." He finished.

I just nodded and we walked along in companionable silence for a few minutes before I decided to make conversation. "So tell me about yourself." I said. "I don't really know anything about you. Where do you live?" I asked.

"Well I live in the Upper Manhattan Newsboys Lodging House." He said. "With all the other Newsies in our region. It's quite fun really. No one to tell us what to do or where to go."

"That's be wonderful." I sighed.

He looked at me in surprise. "Who do you have telling you what to do?" he asked.

"My grandmother sometimes, but even now while she's no where in sight if I were recognized as Gabbie's or Trixie's friend and I was holding your hand it would effect opinions of the mayor and the chief of police."

"Oh." He replied slightly puzzled. "Would you rather we didn't hold hands then?" he asked bluntly.

"Oh no." I said quickly. He noted the quickness and smiled.

"So you really like me then?" he asked.

"Of course I do." I replied laughing.

"Do you like me more than just as a regular friend?" He asked becoming just slightly more serious.

I nodded also becoming more serious.

"Good." He replied smiling again. "Do you like me more than gum drops?" he asked a sparkle in his eye.

I smiled back slyly. "Yes." He opened his mouth again but I was quicker. "Do you like me more than mashed potatoes?" I asked him teasingly.

"Of course." He said chuckling slightly. "Do you like me more than chocolate?"

I nodded. "Do you like me more than icecream?"

He paused and got a semi-dreamy look on his face. When he finally turned towards me he laughed. "Of course I like you more than icecream." He said.

I just rolled my eyes at him. "Good."

When we made it to the Battery the Newsies were all hanging around a bridge diving into the water and being loud and rowdy as boys are prone to do.

"It's kind of strange really." Mush said to me as we walked through the Newsies who eyed us curiously. "Everywhere you go you see Newsies by bridges. Everywhere that is except where we are from. We don't have a bridge to hang around; we just have a boring old statue. It is so much more fun jumping off of bridges than statues." I laughed agreeing with him, although I had never seen their statue.

As we meandered around the groups of Newsies all of them took of their hats for me and would say hello to Mush or hit him on the back. We didn't stop until we got to a tall Newsie who was sitting amongst some barrels by himself staring out at the water a dark look in his eyes. Mush cleared his throat to alert him to the fact that we were standing there.

The Newsie looked up and his eyes cleared. He stood up and I could now see him more clearly. He was about six feet tall with messy blonde hair and green eyes that were sparkling mischievously. His pants and suspenders were a bright green, and his shirt was barely half way buttoned up, exposing much of his chest.

"Heya Hooli." Mush greeted him.

"Hiya Mush." The boy responded. Mush let go of my hand and they both proceeded to spit in their hands and then shook. I tried to stop myself from cringing. "Where's your manners Mush? Introduce your friend." Hooli continued.

"Oh," said Mush, "Yhea, this is Colleen," He pointed at where I was sitting on a crate. "And this is Hooli, the leader of the battery Newsies."

Hooli nodded a sly grin on his face, and I immediately took a dislike to him as he sat down next to me, a little too close. "And how did my ol' boy Mush manage to get a goil like you?" he asked his voice so oily I almost couldn't keep myself from shuddering.

"I'm not sure." I replied honestly. I got up and stood next to Mush, smiling up at him. "But it worked awfully well." I slipped my hand into his, trying my hardest to ignore the spit still lurking there. I gave Hooli a stare as I did this. He raised his eyebrows and nodded at me.

"So what brings you two to the Battery today?" He asked, standing up again.

"Well…" Mush started importantly. "You know how this morning they jacked up the price of the papes? Well we decided to go on strike and we're here to ask youse to join us against Pulitzer." His eyes lit up as he spoke with such earnestness.

"I don't know about that Mush, that's a bit of a risky business you're getting into." Hooli said slowly.

"Oh C'mon Hool, you know it's unfair." Mush added.

"I'm not saying it isn't unfair." Hooli said quickly. He glanced around, eyeing the rest of his boys. "But we don't want no trouble. Striking means the authorities getting involved. I don't see why Jack would be in such a hurry to get no chief of police after us."

My interests perked at the mention of Trixie's dad. I wondered why getting the authorities involved would be something so horrible and my dad's words about Newsboys echoed in my brain.

"Well what does Spot Conlon say?" Hooli finally asked.

"I don't know yet." Mush replied quietly. "We prolly sent someone over there to go talk to him." He glanced down and I could see a look of defeat come over him. "We sent someone to go talk to him same as you."

"Well I'll admit Mush 'ol boy, I like the idea of a strike. And we did discuss it a lil bit this morning. But if Spot don't back it up, it's a no go." Hooli smiled sadly at Mush and stuck out his hand. "I'm sorry kid. Youse are welcome to stay for a bit if'n you'd want to." He added. "I know you don't have anywhere to swim up there in…" He briefly donned a British accent. "Upper East Manhattan."

Mush laughed at his impression and nodded. "Sure, that is if you don't mind Colleen."

"Go ahead." I smiled tightly at him. I was the upper class of Upper East Manhattan that Hooli was making fun of and I wasn't sure if I liked being talked about that way. He didn't know us. I stared at him angrily but within a few moments I realized that he was referring to the same people I made fun of: the dimwitted elderly that came to visit my on my birthday were exactly those types.

The three of us made our way along to where the rest of the Battery Newsies were already jumping off of the bridge. I sat down when we stopped, refusing to jump in myself with all of the half naked boys.

Mush tossed me his shirt before he ran and jumped in. I shook my head to myself and folded his shirt neatly and put it next to me. I then decided to occupy myself by searching out the area for a place where I could be in the shade so my complexion wouldn't be a rosy pink when I returned to my Grandmother.

After about ten minutes I gave up, and instead I searched the Newsies in the water for any sign of Mush, after a few seconds I noticed a shadow over me, and I smiled up at him standing over me dripping. He sat down next to me and slid his arm around my waist shyly.

I smiled at him assuring and laid my head on his shoulder and we sat like that for a few minutes contentedly. Eventually though he turned and smiled mischievously at me. "Why don't you want to go for a swim?" He asked tightening his grip around my waist before I could escape.

I sighed, knowing it was futile to bother fighting. His voice was the same tone that Trixie's was when you couldn't talk her out of whatever she had planned no matter how silly it was. I put my arms around his neck as he lifted me up and began walking towards the edge of the bridge.

"You can swim right?" He asked pausing just as he was about to toss me over the edge. "I mean, are rich girls even allowed to swim?" He looked suddenly concerned as to whether or not he was tossing me to a watery grave.

"Of course I can." I muttered exasperatedly. "Just toss me in already."

He stared at me, still poised motionless over the edge of bridge, with open curiosity. "You realize I would have put you down had you said no right?" He asked chuckling slightly.

I nodded. "I didn't want to spoil your fun." I said, trying to think up a reasonable explanation.

He groaned. "I suppose you think I'm going to let you off just for that."

"Only if you want to get pushed in." I commented slyly as I lightly smacked his face.

"So that's how it is?" He asked raising his eyebrows. "Well then I shall wait no longer." He moved over and let go of me, but my arms were still around his neck. So instead of cooperatively letting go, I made sure that he lost his balance and fell in before I let go.

The water was kind of gross and muddy, and my skirt did nothing to aid me in swimming, but I soon popped up and glanced around for him. "Mush?" I called out uncertainly as I scanned the murky river. I began to worry that maybe since he hadn't been able to jump properly that he'd been hurt somehow. "Mush!" I called out more frantically.

"Boo!" He yelled in my ear, making me scream. I turned as he splashed me lightly, daring me to splash him back.

"You know, my dear Mush." I said, trying to make myself sound pitiful. "I would absolutely love to send torrents of this muddy water flying at you, but I don't think I'd have any hope of my hair ever drying." I simpered.

"You're already wet!" He pointed out tactlessly.

"And I have to get you back!" I agreed and taking him off guard I splashed him heartily before swimming away quickly.

I swam off under the bridge and hid behind one of the poles, carefully peering around to see where he was. But he'd disappeared again. I still shrieked when he reappeared in front of me, grabbing a hold of my wrists and holding them in front of me so I couldn't reattack.

"Now I've got you." He said flirtatiously.

"Oh but I let you toss me in." I whined.

"True." He said slowly.

"And I let you eat mashed potatoes at my house."

"Also true."

"And I wouldn't be as pretty." I added stubbornly fingering my wet hair.

"No you wouldn't." he replied, imitating my tone.

I sighed exasperatedly. "Fine, then you might as well get the splashing over with."

He gazed at me for a few seconds pondering. "Naw." He replied, letting go of my wrists and then brushing his hand over my wet hair. He then lightly brushed my cheek with his thumb and I realized just how close my face was to his. "Let's go back to Manhattan." He whispered.

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A/N Numero deux: Okay, I always thought everything moves a little bit quickly here, but I really just wanted to get the plot moving to a certain point along with the strike so their relationship progresses REALLY quickly. 


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